The Bustling City

The LOEP team has been working hard at school, but it's not all work and no play. we took full advantage of the weekend and headed into Monrovia for some shopping (lappas of course!) and sight seeing.


The streets of Monrovia are lined with booths. People sell all kinds of things! Of course, we are partial to the shops with colorful lappas!



There is a lot of road construction going on on Monrovia, as well as other parts of Montserrado County. Not only are they constructing new roads, but new sewer pipes are being installed as well. This is the intersection of Benson and Center Streets in Monrovia. It's definitely an exciting time of rebuilding for Liberia!



This lady has a head full of potato greens and was on her way across the Montserrado River into the city.


Several men were unloading boxes of paper off of this truck. The paper was being delivered to a "business center" (in the alley), complete with copy machine and typewriters.

LOEP Pilot Project - Phase II

Phase II of the LOEP Pilot Project has been a success so far. This past Friday was the last day of workshop training, and we will be in the classrooms with teachers and students this week. The training went quite well, and seemed to be a success. We will know exactly how much of a success it was once the teachers get back in their classrooms and share the techniques and strategies with their students.


The 2010 LOEP Team with Mrs. Allen (Jacob had to leave a few minutes early)


Our friends Amelia and Angel (both 6th graders at Lott Carey) were peeking through the window to see if training was over so we could come outside and play.


The Trainers of Teachers (TOTs) have gone through both LOEP trainings and will be leading professional development workshops for their colleagues at Lott Carey, Alfred and Agnes, and Children's Relief Mission Schools this year. They will work closely with Mrs. Allen to train their fellow teachers.


Jacob leads a group discussion.


The 2010 LOEP team - Emmalee, Karen, Jacob, and Beth

More challenges

The Internet connection is one of our challenges this year and we wish we could post more pictures for everyone. We are trying to find more "down" times when the dial-up connection is not so slow in loading pics. Will keep trying!

The teacher workshop this year was four days jam-packed with new concepts and techniques that are new to our colleagues here in Liberia. It will take a couple of weeks for them to process all the information and realize how much they can do with the information they were introduced to in the course. The material was about one semester's worth of college level work condensed into a four-day workshop. They will be studying and working together on a professional development plan with the material throughout the next 11 months.

Today we will attend Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia for morning services. Providence is the oldest church in Liberia and the site of the signing of their Constitution. We noticed yesterday that the large United Methodist Church complex on the corner adjacent to Providence has been freshly painted, lots of repairs and looks great! There is an attached United Methodist University which has also been spruced up since last year.

The United Methodists in Liberia have a thriving program for the Deaf and we will be visiting their school next week. LOEP Team member Karen is Methodist and also a Speech Pathologist and former teacher of the Deaf so it will be a very exciting visit for all of us!

As the internet seems to be running smoothly, will try now to load some pics!

There was no training on Thursday due to the national holiday. So we spent the day visiting and seeing some of the rural area around Monrovia. We made some new friends in Clay-Ashland. They were very excited about their new pencils and the cameras that we had.


Ms. Famatta Morris is the oldest living graduate of Lott Carey Mission School. She will be 95 years old in September. She has lived in the same house in Clay-Ashland all of her life. We had a lovely visit with Ms. Morris. She shared some potato greens with us, and many stories of her community and her many years of serving as the principal of the local kindergarten.


Ms. Morris' house sits on a beautiful piece of land right by the St. Paul River. It is so peaceful and beautiful. No wonder Ms. Morris loves it so much there!



The road to Clay-Ashland. Look at the red African dirt!

The New Science Lab

Relaxing after a hard day of training.



Lott Carey students were enjoying a week off of school while their teachers were in LOEP training. However, several of them enjoyed coming to the library to visit with the LOEP team during breaks.



The science lab at Lott Carey is being remodeled and re-stocked. Some of the science teachers spent the night at the beach earlier this week to collect specimens for the lab. Mrs. Banks helped them unpack and preserve the specimens while the students were out of school. The specimens included oysters, crabs, a lobster, sea urchins, a skate, and cassava fish. (Notice the UVA t-shirt... I thought some of you might appreciate that!). The teachers are going back this weekend to spend the night and collect more.

Bea's Fashion & Design

Karen had a Liberian dress here waiting for her!

I still haven't figured out how to make the elaborate head ties that Bea can. I defer to the fashion queen for this.

Bea's studio with her new embroidery machine! This is where the fashion magic happens. Grace (Bea's niece) "assists".


We had fun looking at Bea's pattern books and lappas. Even Emile was unable to convince Mom to choose bright purple for her next suit.

Training @ LCMS

Ms. Gardner and Ms. Allison chat during a break during training on Monday. Everyone (trainers and teachers alike) seemed happy to be back for the second LOEP training. It was exciting to see old friends.

Presenting a lesson that uses multiple teaching styles and speaks to the various multiple intelligences.

Mr. Gbah shares observations he has made this year with his students.



Derrick is with us again this year to document the work going on. We love Derrick!